Kim Richey : Wreck Your Wheels

Much of the success Kim Richey has experienced has come on borrowed words. She is known mainly as a writer, having penned songs covered by much bigger names like Mary Chapin Carpenter, Trisha Yearwood and James Morrison.

Wreck Your Wheels is her sixth album, and Richey finds herself back in Nashville in the hopes of finding a more grounded, rootsy sound that grows like kudzu in the music city. The result is an album that takes some time to grab a hold of you. At first listen, I shrugged my shoulders and thought another good but not great CD had found its way on my desk. Second and third visits to the album found new, unheard gems.

“Woke up on a Sunday knowing you would leave me after all, Not today, but a long time from now,” she sings with a crystal ball on the catchy “In the Years to Come.”

Wreck Your Wheels has a few fun turns along the way with the bluesy “When the Circus Comes to Town” and the blind corners of “Keys” keeps us mystified at some of life’s toughest questions.

Kim Richey never pretends to be the one you come to when you need to speed up life. Her brassed voice does not carry the same weight of some of Nashville’s royalty, but her words carry just as much punch. Don’t judge this album on your first listen, more words jump out of the speaker every time I give it a spin.